Nonwind safety device for clothes wringers



Feb. 28, 1950 H w. WILLIAMS cmwmo SAFETY DEVICE FOR CLOTHES WRINGERS Filed March 25, 194.8

2 Sheets-Sheet l 'F/GL 3 INVENTOR Feb. 28, 1950 H. w. WILLIAMS 2,498,975

NONWIND SAFETY DEVICE FOR CLOTHES WRINGERS I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed- March 23, 1948 Patented Feb. 28, 1950 UNITED} STATES PATENT OFFICE NONWIND SAFETY DEVICE FOR CLOTHES WRINGERS Harvey W. Williams, Richmond, Calif.

Application March 23, 1948, Serial No. 16,608

'2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in wringers, and is specifically designed to prevent anything from wrapping about the wringer rollers, such as the wash, or even the hair'of an operator which might be caught in the wringer rollers, and is not dependent upon the conventional roller release but which operates automatically whether the rollers are electrically driven or driven by-some other source of power, such as an internal combustion engine, and therefore is an improvement over my abandoned copending application Serial Number 774,269, filed September 16, 1947, which operates with equal efiicienc but is dependent upon breaking of the electrical circuit for stopping the rollers.

As is well known, it is quite commonfor articles of apparel and household linens, particularly fringed napkins, or other articles which have loose strands, to wrap around the roller, and, when the hair of the laundress is accidentally caught in the rollers, the person will almost invariably try to pull the hair loose with the hair continuing to wind and finally tearing the hair from the scalp or possibly actually scalping the person, because under such conditions the conventional safety release is almost invariably forgotten.

With washed articles, the winding is never noticed because it occurs on the opposite side of the wringer and if the winding increases too much it may break the wringer, and often the safety release is forgotten until too late to prevent damage, or injury. Y

This invention provides a meanswhich is actuated as soon as any materialstarts winding about the rollers to instantl stop andfree the rollers, so that the material can be withdrawn. This is particularly important where the hair of the operator is concerned because the pulling which is invariably resorted to will definitely draw the hair out from the free rollers. The rollers having been de-clutched cannot advance in the same direction. To start the rollers again it is necessary to again operate the clutch lever on the wringer.

The objects and advantages of the invention are as follows:

First, to provide a non-wind safetydevice for wringers which will instantly free the rollers as soon as anything starts to wind about the roller.

Second, to provide a device as outlined which will free the rollers irrespective of whether'the material starts winding about the upper or the lower roller.

Third, to provide a device as outlined which will remain inoperative until the wringer is manually reset for operation. a

Fourth, to provide a device as outlined which will free the rollers irrespective of the direction of rotation of the rollers. Y

Fifth, to provide a device as outlined which is positive in action, simple in construction, and which can be incorporated as an integral part of a wringer assembly, or made as anattachment for installation on existing wringers.

In describing the invention reference will be had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of. a wringer with the central roller portion broken out and partly shown in section, and showing the invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a reduced scale section taken on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a reduced scale section 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a reduced scale top plan view of one end of the wringer with the head removed to show the releasing mechanism and is taken on a line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of a modification the releasing mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line fi6 of Fig-5.

Fig. 7 is another modification showing rollers substituted for the arcuate shoes for actuating the releasing mechanism.

Fig. 8 is a section taken on line 88 of Fig. l.

The invention includes a shoe for each roller, respectively [0 and H each ofv/hich is concavely formed to fit closely the rollers l2, l3, having just a running clearance M So that any object adhering to the roller will engage the edge of the shoe, or Wedge between the shoe and the roller. I

The shoe H] for the lower roller has an arm at each end, respectively It and it, which are journaled on the roller shaft i1 and the arm taken on line 15 has an upward extension l8 terminating in an engaging member l9, while the arm lB-at the other end has also an upward extension 20 terminating in an actuating member 2 l.

The shoe i I for the upper roller also has an arm at each end, respectively 22 and 23, jour naled on the respective ends of the roller shaft 24, and the arm 22 has a dependent portion 25 terminating in a cooperative engaging member 26 to engage the member 19 to actuate the lower shoe through engagement of winding material with the upper shoe.

A pair of fingers, respectively 21 and 28, are independently mounted on the two portions 29 and 30 of a telescopic shaft which in turn is pivotally supported at its opposite ends in the housing 3|. Adjustable shoes 32 and 33 are mounted in the ends of these respective fingers and cooperate with the respective ends of the actuating member 2|. Two lever arms 34 and 35 are respectively secured-at one end to the respective portions 29 and 30 of the telescopic shaft and respectively actuate the fingers 21 and 28, and the other ends of these arms have pivotal connection to apair of plungers 35 and 3! as indicated at 38and 39, and these plungers slidably operate in the upper part of the gear housing 40 and terminate in cooperative relation to a pin 4| which projects from the de-clutching and reversing lever shaft 42 on which the declutching and reversing lever 43 is mounted. The operation of the invention is as follows: With the rollers l2 and I3 cooperatively rotating in opposite directions with the roller !.2 rotating in the direction indicated by the arrow 44, the clothes will pass directl through the wringer as indicated at 45. If anything starts to wind about the lower roller as indicated at 46, it will engage or wedge between the roller and the shoe Hi carrying the shoe with the roller in the direction of the arrow 44. This swings the engaging member IS in the direction of the arrow 45, and coincidently moves the actuating member 2| in the same direction. The side 21' of this member raises the shoe 32 and thus swings the finger 21 upwardly and the lever arm 34 backwardly, forcing the plunger 36 back to throw the lever 43 to neutral position through the medium of the pin 4f. The rollers are now declutched and entirely free. The material which is wound can now be pulled free with substantially no resistance, or the rollers can easily be turned by hand to free the material. This feature is very important when the hair of the g laundress gets caught in the wringer since human hair invariably clings to and winds about the wringer rollers, and with the slight clearance, a very small amount of the hair will wedge between the shoe and roller and stop the rollers.

To start the wringer it is necessary to move the lever 43 to its clutching position which, through the pin 4| forces the plunger back, depressing the end 2! of the actuating member and resetting the shoe.

If the material winds about the upper roller, it engages the upper shoe II which moves in the direction indicated by the arrow 41, which through the cooperative engaging member 28 moves the lower shoe in the direction 44 and thus actuating the release in the same manner and direction.

The modification shown in Figs. and 6 is intended for older styles of wringers as an at-- tachment to be mounted on top and front of the gear housing, and includes the shoe it! slightly clearing the roller as indicated at I 4', and with the shoe integral with an arm l6, and consists of a housing 48 in which is slidably mounted two plungers 49 and 50 which are tapered at one end as indicated at 5! and 52 and having engaging slots 53 and 54 at the start of the tapers. These plungers each have a collar 55 fixed thereon and urged against a stop 56 by a compression spring 51 with the other end of the plunger projecting rearwardly through the housing as indicated at 58.

A different actuating member 59 is formed on the upwardly extending arm of the lower roller and spans the space between the leaf springs 60 and SI which are anchored at 52 and 63 and slidably retained at 64 and $5 and which engage in the slots 53 and 54.

To operate the wringer, the lever 43 is moved from its neutral position to clutching position on either side according to the direction of rotation desired for the rollers. This forces the plunger in from the position shown for the plunger 49 to that shown for plunger 50 against the urgence of the spring 51, and the spring 60 engages in the slot 53 and locks the plunger in that position. If the safety is not required, the plungers will always remain depressed as indicated for the plunger 50, so that after the wringer has been once reversed, the plungers will both be depressed and locked, and will never be brought intouse unless something winds on one of the rollers. In that case, the shoe It! or I i will be moved with the roller, moving the member 59 in the direction occupied by the lever 43, moving the spring 60 or 6! back to release the plunger which through the spring 5! drives the lever 43 to neutral position. freeing the rollers. The plunger is automatically set the next time the lever 43 is moved to that side for clutching.

Instead of the flat shoes, small rollers 65 and 61 can be substituted for the concave shoes if! and II, being rotatably supported. in the arms I5 and 22' as illustrated in Fig. '7.

It will be noted that with either type of device, irrespective of whether the material winds about the upper or the lower roller, the rollers will be instantly freed and will remain free until the gear shift lever is again manually moved to proper position, and that this movement will automatically set the safety device after it. has been tripped.

I claim:

1. A non-wind safety device for a. wringer having a reverse lever and upper and lower rollers, comprising; a shoe for each roller and slightly clearing the non-cooperative peripheries of the respective rollers and each having an arm at each end journaled on the shaft for its roller and with the arms at one end operatively coupled for opposite movements of the respective shoes about the rollers; and two plungers cooperatively related at one end to said reverse lever and at the other end to one of said arms and each movable to one position. through movement of said reverse lever to respective forward and reverse engaging positions for the rollers, and movable respectively to another position through movement of either of said shoes in either direction to move said. reverse lever to a non-engaging position for the rollers.

2. In a non-wind safety device for a wringer having a pair of rollers and a reversing and. disengaging lever; a shoe extending throughout the length of one roller and slightly clearing the periphery of the roller on the non-cooperative side and having an arm at each end journaled on the shaft for the roller, two plungers having each one end cooperatively related to said reversing disengaging lever to the respective forward and 5 reverse positions, and movable by the shoe to disengaging position for said reversing and disengaging lever when material starts winding about the roller; and in which a second shoe is provided for the other roller and with the shoes operatively connected for moving said reversing I and disengaging lever with movement of either shoe in either direction.

HARVEY W. WILLIAMS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

